TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — You are loved. You are kind. You are chosen. These are just a few of the messages on the bags made by Reagan's Rainbows of Hope.
With the help of her family, the non-profit was started by 15-year-old Reagan Cutler of Tonawanda. Their mission — to provide comfort and joy to inpatient kids during their hospital stay.
The non-profit puts together gift bags for children in hospitals and rehab centers that includes blankets, coloring books and Reagan's favorite, squishmallows.
"They're so soft. They're cozy. They make you feel better," Cutler said about the squishmallows.
The idea of Reagan's Rainbows of Hope started after Reagan was diagnosed with a tumor, located on her brain stem, last summer. The tumor caused Reagan to feel constant nausea and headaches.
When Reagan received the first diagnosis, she was originally told the tumor would be inoperable. From there, she underwent chemotherapy to try and help treat the tumor.
The treatment did not help. After initial treatment failing, Reagan's family decided to seek out a second opinion from hospitals across the country.
After receiving a second opinion at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City, the doctors gave the procedure a go. Reagan's sister Maddie Mineo told me the family was nervous but was willing to take the chance.
"Her doctor reached out to my mom and said he was confident in doing the surgery. The placement of the tumor always comes with risk," Mineo said. "He was confident which brought us some positivity and the idea that we can do this."
For Reagan, finding out the doctors at MSK would be able to remove the tumor was a weight taken off her shoulder.
"I was kind of relieved cause it wasn't as bad as it could've been," Cutler said. "It was a good outcome for what was there."
Reagan underwent a successful procedure in November 2022, as doctors removed all of the tumor from her brain stem. The next step was rehab.
The procedure took place close to Thanksgiving Day, so Reagan was not able to be home for Thanksgiving. She had one goal in mind though after missing Thanksgiving — to be home for Christmas.
Reagan went to rehab at the Golisano Restorative Neurology and Rehab Center in Rochester, NY. With Reagan's goal to be home for Christmas in mind, Vanessa Ellsworth said the rehab team hit the ground running.
"Well, I thought we could do it," Ellsworth said. "Everyone new from nursing to the doctors, to all the therapists to I'm sure environmental services knew [Reagan] wanted to be home by Christmas for sure. It allowed our team to have our eyes on a target and a goal and work hard and make sure that we helped to get to that point."
After three weeks of intensive rehab consisting of 3 hours of therapy a day, Reagan accomplished her goal. Her speedy recovery left the rehab team in awe of her.
What took the team by surprise is what Reagan was able to do shortly after her stint in rehab. Reagan only months after was able to do activities that would take most several months to do again.
"To hear that she walked around New York City all day long and got to go see Broadway shows and it was just months after discharge, I never in my wildest dream would've thought that she would be doing that." Ellsworth said. "It makes you feel good knowing that you helped someone get back to what they love doing and feeling like themselves."
The rehab team at Golisano said they are proud of Reagan and how far she has come and to see her create positivity after a difficult time she faced herself.
"I'm so proud of her resilience and her tenacity. And it was just such a pleasure to be a small stop on her story," Ellsworth said. "It's so great that she's giving back already and that we can use her as almost like a conduit to help other children and families too."
Reagan's nonprofit has created smiles for many kids at Golisano and other hospitals and rehabilitation centers the bags are dropped off to, including 10-year-old Briella Serio of Tonawanda.
Her mom, Marie, said she's blessed to still have her little one with her after Briella fell over 100 feet while hiking and suffered major head trauma.
"Every time we go to the doctors and they ask what happened and I give them the quick synopsis, they say she's a walking miracle." Marie said.
Briella was left in a coma for eight days.
"It was scary," Marie said. "The doctors told me I was going to come home with a 10 year old baby."
Shortly after Briella woke up from the coma, she had the gift bag waiting for her from Reagan's Rainbows of Hope.
"I was so happy to get a squishmallow because I've always wanted this one but I could not find it," Briella said. "It's so cute and tiny."
Marie was thankful for the smile and the joy the bag brought Briella. She's also grateful for all the love and support the family recieved as Briella recovered.
"I thought it was amazing that someone I didn't know was willing to do something for my daughter to put a smile on her face," Marie said. "Just thank you. Thank you is not a strong enough word, but just thank you to everyone who was here to support."
Briella also shared her appreciation to Reagan for the gift bag.
"Hi Reagan," Briella said. "Thank you for the stuffed animal and the blanket!"
Reagan's main goal of the non-profit is to do exactly what she did for Briella, to bring reassurance that everything will be okay, a smile and some comfort.
Like everyone else who has been apart of Reagan's journey to recovering and her non-profit, Reagan's sister Maddie could not be more proud to call Reagan her little sister.
"Seeing that she has taken such a hard time into something beautiful is really great to see," Maddie said. "I'm proud of her."
The non-profit just reached 501(C)(3) status and is planning on hosting fundraisers in the future. If you'd like to donate, you can find the link to their Amazon Wishlist and PayPal here.
